1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear seat apparatus for a vehicle, and particularly to a rear seat apparatus for a vehicle disposed on the elevated rear portion of a stepped floor of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional rear seat apparatus for a vehicle, which is disposed on the elevated rear portion of a vehicle floor, has a structure disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 3-189245.
As shown in FIG. 26, in the conventional rear seat apparatus for a vehicle, a rear seat 90 is composed of a seat cushion 91 and a seat back 92. The seat back 92 can swing toward the front of a vehicle (in the direction of arrow S1 in FIG. 26), pivoting on a first hinge 93. The seat cushion 91 is connected at a front bottom portion 91A thereof to a vehicle floor 96 by means of an L-shaped link arm 94, thereby allowing it to swing toward the front of the vehicle (in the direction of arrow S2 in FIG. 26).
In this rear seat apparatus, when the seat cushion 91 and the seat back 92 are swung forward to respective positions shown in FIG. 27, a rear surface 92A of the seat back 92 serves as an article supporting surface on which an article 98 is placed.
However, in this rear seat apparatus, as shown in FIG. 27, when the seat cushion 91 is in an upright state, a clearance 99 is formed between the seat back 92 and the seat cushion 91, making it difficult to provide a spacious luggage room with a flat floor.
Also, in this rear seat apparatus, when the vehicle receives an impact from its front end in the state in which the seat cushion 91 stands upright with the article 98 being placed on the rear surface 92A of the seat back 92 as shown in FIG. 27, the article 98 will move forward (in the direction of arrow Y in FIG. 27) and hit against the seat cushion 91. When the article is already in contact with the seat cushion 91 (as represented by a two dots-and-dash line in FIG. 27), an inertial force of the article 98 acts on the seat cushion 91. Accordingly, in order to reliably prevent the seat cushion 91 from moving forward due to a thrust of the article 98, it is necessary to sufficiently reinforce the link arm 94 supporting the seat cushion 91, a support portion for the link arm 94, a front seat 99, and the like, resulting in a significant increase in weight.